Learn to Trust
by Persia
Summary: I changed the season finale, and then I used it to my own purposes, please read and review!!!
1. Default Chapter

Learn to Trust, Learn to Let Go

Bye: Kảiaa

Okay, I own nothing but part of the plot line. I'm twisting what the writers of DA wrote, only because I don't really like Logan all that much, though before I thought he was kind of nice…

Max awoke with a queasy feeling in her stomach, all of it was a dream, she tried to tell herself, when you open up your eyes, you will be back in your apartment. But Max knew even before she opened her eyes that she was not in her apartment, but that she was in a hospital of some sort, or worse, the infirmary at Manticore. She opened her eyes to see doctors hovering around her, looking at her with a mix of anxiety and surprise. She tried to move her arms, but they were held to the table, as were her feet. 

"Don't struggle," said Renfro's voice, "You're back home for good."

Max whipped her head around to see Renfro and Lydecker standing in the doorway. Lydecker looked quite worse for wear, there was a bloody cut running down the left side of his face, and he was bound hands and loosely on his feet. 

Max struggled in her restraints, "Don't try it, you're weak from the sedatives, and I don't want one of my prime soldiers hurt. As for your friend, I can't say the same." 

"What did you do with Logan," she hissed not as a question but a statement that demanded an answer.

"Your lover-boy is out there, all alone dead, by now, I would presume. An X-5 shot him, thinking that he was another X-5, and he's probably died of blood-loss." Renfro answered almost in a joking tone.

Max made one last valiant struggle before she collapsed back onto the table. 

"That's a good little soldier," Renfro said, "If you're extra good, we'll let you out a little early."

Then she left, dragging Lydecker behind her.

Max surveyed the room around her there were three doctors, and a smaller girl with short hair that was growing out of its crew-cut. She smiled at Max, and gave the other doctors a signal to leave. 

"I'm X-8709894562435243, but most people just call me Doc. Because I'm always in here patching you crazy renegades up." She grinned showing that she was missing one of her lower teeth and a new one was growing in. Max managed a weak smile before she wined at a sharp pain in her leg. 

"Ah, perhaps we will be needing some more morphine. Unless, of course you would like to be a big brave soldier and deal with the pain?" her last sentence had been meant as a joke, though it wasn't very funny to Max. 

She bustled over to a desk of drawers, and pulled out a syringe that was full of a slightly iridescent coloured liquid. She undid one of Max's arms, rubbed it slightly to get more blood flowing, and injected the morphine into her arm. Then she undid her other arm and her legs, and helped her to a sitting position. 

"I can't stand having my patients bound, it gives them no room to show me if they are in pain, and that bothers me, because I'm not particularly fond of causing pain while trying to fix something."

Max was beginning to feel the affects of the morphine, but not so much that she didn't notice a searing pain in her left shoulder when Doc. touched it. 

"I'm giving you two days bed-rest, and then I'll put you back in as highly injured unless you think otherwise?"

"Yes, I think you should just kill me, so I don't have to see the look on Renfro's face if I do anything that she likes."

"Hmm, sorry, but I'm not authorized to put anyone down yet, unless I consult with at least three other doctors and Renfro, and I don't really want to kill anyone who is in as good of shape as you. Scoot, I'll get someone to show you your bunk."

Doc shuffled over to an intercom system and said into it, "X-5494, please report to the infirmary immediately."

Then she sat down at her desk and began to fill out some paperwork that Max saw had her barcode on top of it. Before she could press the subject a tall man… Wait a minute Max thought, that's Ben!… presumably 494 came in. 

"Yes Doc?" he said with an all but innocent look on his face.

"Take 452 to her room assignment, it shouldn't be that hard to find, unless you can't remember where your room is." She said irritably.

"Of course." He muttered looking slightly surprised at the fact that she was his roommate.  His other roommate had been put into psych for reprogramming, and it looked as though he hadn't made it out. Darn, he thought, he was actually a pretty good roommate, he didn't say anything. 

"Follow me," he said a darkness seeming to settle around him, as Max followed him out of the infirmary, with much less pan than before, though she felt the morphine fog start to wash over her. 494 lead her to the uniforms room, and she was handed several uniforms in the summer green colours and several in the winter whites. Any other camouflage needed would be handed out at the start of that mission. 

As they headed lower into the complex Max felt the morphine settle further in, and her senses were almost completely dulled. They finally reached the room that they were sharing, on the door both of their barcodes had been emblazoned. 

Max had barely made it into the room when she collapsed onto her bunk, exhausted and muddled by the morphine. Great, 494 thought, now I have to baby-sit a sleeping X-5, which means total boredom until she wakes up. Darn. 

Three hours later Max woke up to see a very annoyed looking 494 standing over her. "Dinner time" he said, "Rise and shine, if possible."

Max stood up, and at once regretted the movement, because she fell dizzy back onto the bed. She tried again and was more successful; she managed to get onto her feet with help from a table that was being used as a desk in the room. She looked around and saw that there were two of everything in the room, two beds which were stacked on top of each other, two table-desks, two chairs, two pens and two pencils on each of the desks, though 494's had paper on it with some writing as well. 

494 stared at her with a mix of curiosity and annoyance. She was a drag because with his luck, he would now have to put her back through her paces. 675 had had an escapee "Brin" 412 become his roommate and he had had to teach her all of the new rules and get her accustomed to the regular routine. 

"Let's go, if we're late, we don't eat." 494 said. Max nodded, and she took shaky steps after him out of the door to their room towards the dining hall. Without realizing it, she marched there, the combined affect of the morphine and the visual reminders, she must have slipped back into the Manticore mind-set. They reached the dining hall with twenty five seconds to spare. 494 sat at an empty table with her, and waited for Renfro or one of the other officers to come in and make the announcements, and then release them to eat. Renfro came in trailed by two lab techs, and stood at the lectern consulting a clipboard in her hand. 

"General notes," she said, "Because the DNA lab has been destroyed there will be some measures taken to replace this data. All of the X-6 series and below, and X-8709894562435243 please stay afterwards. Evening lessons are cancelled due to the increased demand for staff in maintenance. Your CO's will organize activities in your series recreation rooms. All X-7s are to report to the infirmary tomorrow morning at 0345. You are dismissed." She finally finished. Max glared at her, annoyed that she had to listen to this woman talk easily about how she was torturing children. 

494 nudged Max, and she got up like the rest of the X-5s and above. There were a jumble of X-4s, 3s and 1s. The X-2s had not survived past puberty. They went over to a long line of white cartons; all of them had labels on them. They were labeled with barcodes. She found her own carton, and picked it up. 494 had also picked his carton up and they returned to the table that they had been sitting at. There was absolute silence except for the sounds of eating. This slightly unnerved Max, because at dinners with Logan……… But there weren't going to be any more dinners with Logan. It had finally donned on her that she had lost her best friend; to the people she had spent all of her life hating.

Max and 494 finished their food, which was a glob of white mush that was completely tasteless. She waited with him until the rest of the series had left in their perfect lines with blank faces. Then Renfro went back to the podium. 

"As I have already informed you, the DNA lab has been destroyed. To compensate for the embryos lost, you will be paired off in breeding partners. Copulation will occur every night at least once until 15 pregnancies in each series are obtained. Fetuses will be harvested and the data lost should be recovered. The X-1—X-4 series will only require 2. The night staff will give your assignments to you when you reach your rooms. New room assignments will also be passed out. No changes will be made, unless extreme circumstances occur. You are dismissed to your rooms until lights out." Then Max noticed Doc sitting at the back of the room by herself. 

"X-8709894562435243, you are to report to the infirmary for observations." Renfro finished as the X-5s and X-6s left. They weren't required to leave in an organized manner. Their individualism was encouraged because they were beginning to go on solo missions outside the compound. 

Max and 494 went back to their room, but there was a man who stood outside their door. 

"X-5494, X-5452, your assignments." He handed 494 a sheet of paper. The tall blonde looked mildly surprised when he read what was written there. He handed it to Max, and she read:

X-54948930275928, X-5452482721938242 breeding partners, Room 789SL. 

Max cringed. She did not want anything to do with a breeding partner. Especially not with the man who sort of was her older dead brother. The man left them, and 494 opened the door to their room and they both stepped in. 494 took the sheet over to his desk and put I into one of the bottom drawers. 

"What are we supposed to be doing?" Max asked, and then realizing her stupidity, blushed. They were supposed to be doing each other. 

"Copulating, but no offense or anything, I don't really fancy catching any STDs." 494. 

"You smart Alec!" she said, "I do not have STDs thank you very much. In fact I have had absolutely no sexual contact with anyone!" Damn! She thought, just admitted a weakness, not incredibly intelligent.

"I'm sorry, I didn't really mean that…" he tried, he did look sorry. "I'll tell you what, since you seem to yell out for people by name, and you think I'm a smart Alec, then you can call me Alec, unless of course a superior is in the room."

Max looked at him doubtfully. "Max." he added. Then she smiled and sat down on her bunk which was the lower of the two.


	2. Love Manticore

Learn to Trust  
Part 2  
By Kaiáa  
Note: Sorry I cut off so randomly last time ;) I'll try to leave you more, fluidly   
this time. Is "fluidly" even a word?? Luv Ya!!!  
  
Alec sat on the bed next to her.   
"I really didn't mean that. I'm sorry. Sometimes my tongue acts without   
permission from my brain."  
Max looked away, towards the wall, a blank stare on her face. "I know you   
didn't, it doesn't matter." She said, avoiding looking at his face. "I don't want to,   
you know, well… er, that's just wrong."  
"It doesn't look like we were really given a whole lot of a choice. Scratch that,   
none at all." Alec said.   
Then Max remembered something, "Hey, what surveillance did Doc. have to do?"  
"Um, she is kinda supposed to be recording what goes on between us. There's   
probably video surveillance, but not in this room, I'm CO, so I get a little bit of   
privacy."   
"Oh wonderful, no "copulation" then." Replied considerably more lighthearted.   
"Yup. None, unless no one else gets pregnant, and then we're in deep shit." Said   
Alec.  
"So, since it looks as though I'm stuck in this hell-hole for a while, I might as well   
know the routine, so I don't get more time in psych than completely   
unavoidable." Max said bitterly.  
"Right. Schedule." He was looking right into those huge brown eyes now, "0430   
is wake up call. 0445 is breakfast. 0500 is morning lessons, Military History, then   
Mathematics, then Verbal usage, then Battle Strategy, then Health/Med.   
Health/Med is by far the best, Doc. teaches it. Then at 1200 is lunch. Then we   
have sparring/sim.s until 1900, which is free hour, doing assignments, 2200 is   
dinner, if we get it, 2300 is lights out." Her face captivated Alec; she seemed   
innocent, and yet so wise. Almost as though she was both young and old at the   
same time. He stared at her without really realizing that she was talking him.   
She waved a hand in front of his face, and he snapped back into reality.   
"Anyone in there?" she asked jokingly.   
Alec gave her a quizzical look and then jumped up onto his own bunk.   
"Hey!" Max said as she stood up, "Why didn't you answer me?"  
"Didn't hear your question," he muttered.   
"Ah, yes, you did look like you were off in Lala Land." She said, "I asked if we   
ever got any breaks."  
"Sometimes, but very rare, unless you're on a mission, and then you get a day to   
recoup, they say. I have one that's coming up in a week and I'll bet they   
assigned you to it too. My old roommate was going to go, but he went to psych   
and didn't come back out. We'll check the boards when you're back in regular   
training." Alec responded.  
Max lay down on her bunk, she was confused, why had Mr. Trained Soldier gone   
off to Lala Land anyways? Maybe he was only human after all.   
  
Max was given two days bed-rest, and Doc. checked up on her at meal-times   
just to make sure she was fully functional. Max's two days off weren't very bad,   
and Alec had come to check up on her several times throughout his "breaks" that   
were made by running like hell in between classes.   
  
Then next morning Alec and Max checked the boards in the dining hall, and saw   
that 494 and 542 were on the same mission next Thursday. They hurried off to   
Military History, where absolutely nothing eventful happened. They almost fell   
asleep. In Mathematics, Max was forced to do a bunch of problems on the board   
to test her performance under pressure, and she did them all perfectly, but the   
teacher wasn't satisfied. He said that she was too slow, though she was very   
accurate, and was given a packet of math problems to do for the remainder of   
the period. In verbal usage, the teacher seemed to not really care what they   
were doing, as they all studied French. Max already knew some French, and she   
did quite well. In Battle strategy, they had the pants bored off them, and finally   
they had Health/Med. Doc rushed in just before the bell that signaled start of   
classes rang. She passed out diagrams to all of the X-5s in the class and   
explained that they were going to learn a more advanced procedure for taking   
out bullets, particularly automatic fire. Doc gave a short lecture, and then they   
filled out the questions at the bottom of their diagrams. Max liked that class,   
there was no, "Love Manticore" undertone. Doc sat at the front of the classroom   
surveying all of them with a mixture of confusion and exasperation. She caught   
Max's eye and smiled. It was obvious the little girl liked her. They finished their   
day uneventfully, and fell into a much-awaited sleep. 


	3. It's ALIVE

Blah blah blah…  
Obviously, because you have read this far, you have pretty much figured out that   
this is going to be a Max/Alec fic. Ok. Anyways, just to forewarn you: I am in a   
particularly annoyed mood, and I think I'm going to sum up what happened to   
Logan in this chapter. It might not be pretty. Don't flame me, because I'm   
warning you. Okay. Ok. Really? Really!  
  
In the Manticore Morgue  
Renfro and an assortment of lab workers were trying to sort out how they   
wanted to dissect Logan to get the most spare parts out of him when poor   
innocent Doc walked in.   
"Ma'am?!" she asked when she saw them using little bits of chalk to line where   
they wanted to make incisions, (they also wanted the skin).  
"Oh, you can start on the dissection, Dr. will show you how he wants it done."  
"That… um… I don't think I'm qualified to do this, Ma'am." She stuttered out.   
"Really, 709, I thought you were more than qualified," Renfro answered in mock   
shock.  
"Meaning no disrespect, ma'am, but I don't think I've had enough practice in, er,   
this field to make any major, erm, procedures work. I think that I might damage   
something, or err…" she was running out of ideas way too fast, and this wasn't   
being helped by everyone in the room, except Logan, staring at her.  
"Well, I guess you better learn fast. You have 45 minutes to finish," and she   
swept out of the room with the doctors.  
"But, don't they…"  
"Figure it out yourself, 709, you're smart, I'm certain you'll think of something to   
do with him."  
Doc turned miserably toward the table, and saw that Logan still had a pulse. Her   
eyebrows raised, and she thought, sickened, "They were going to dissect him   
alive. Yuck YUCKEYUCKEYUCKEYUCKEYUCKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
She barely fought down the bile in her throat, and hurried over to the cabinets   
that contained basic medical equipment. She pulled out a stethoscope, and some   
other checkers of vitals and began work as quickly as she had ever done in her   
short life.   
Meanwhile out in the passageway, Renfro looked pleased to see Doc doing the   
opposite of what she was supposed to do.   
"When she's finished, change her rooms so that she can bunk with the X-6s, but   
give her a single. I want her apart from the 8's, they've had a bad influence."  
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When her 45 minutes were up, Doc was proud of her handiwork. She had   
restored the spinal cord damage, among other things that he would have died   
from eventually. She had even tied the end of his stitches in a bow.   
Renfro walked in and stared at her.  
"Good job, 709. Report to your new room, immediately," she said this with a   
finalizing tone that said she didn't want to hear anything about this. Doc   
grudgingly followed the lackey out of the room, and down the hallway to the   
elevator. They went up to the second floor, and along another hallway to the X-6   
barracks. He opened a room for her, and as she stepped inside, she realized that   
she no longer had a roommate. !*! !SCORE! !*! No more crazy girl that she used   
to share a room with. The guard informed her that the key was a retinal scan,   
and that she could come and go as she pleased. Doc was very pleased, but she   
couldn't forget about what they had been about to do to that poor man. They   
weren't seriously going to kill him, were they? She would have to ask Max if that   
was the guy she had broken in with. There had been one other, but he had been   
killed. Or had he. Now she was just plain confused.   
  
Max and Alec were preparing for lights out on her fourth night back, when they   
heard a knock on their door. Max gave a hesitant look to Alec, who nodded that   
she should open it. Outside the door stood Doc. She was still dressed, and   
looked quite shaken. Max beckoned her inside and asked, "Aren't you supposed   
to be doing observations?"  
"Nope. Not tonight. They've gotten enough now. Thank god. No, actually I'm   
here to ask you about who you broke in with. I just repaired a man with spinal   
cord damage-"  
"Logan?!" Max shrieked, "Is Logan still alright? Where is he?"  
"Um, not sure. They shoved me out. But anyways, I wanted to let you know."   
And then she relayed to them everything she had pieced together after pacing in   
her room for three hours.   
  
"That's gross!" Max said indignantly, "Totally disgusting, and evil, and-"  
"Manticore." Alec put in.  
"It's been done before, live dissection. Want to make sure they can get it to tick   
up until the very last moment, so they can pry its brain. Really gross technique."  
"You knew about this?" Max asked, as shocked as Doc looked.  
"Not this particular one, but I've heard of others. We had it in some of the   
advanced classes. I don't know why they didn't show Doc. Maybe they planned   
to do that today, but it went to hell. Who knows. I suggest you not brood on it,   
otherwise they might decide they don't think your friend is worth keeping." Alec   
said darkly.   
"Logan's worth keeping, which is the problem. I don't know what they'll do to   
him to try to make him tell.   
"I suggest we lay low, and pretend like this never happened. Try to get some   
sleep, both of you, Max and I are going out in two days, and tomorrow we have   
a briefing." He ushered Doc out of the room, and then turned to Max.   
"Max, how do you know your friend is important to them? Don't kid yourself.   
Unless he's REALLY important, they won't keep him for long, and under no   
circumstance anyways would they let you see him."  
"Logan… knows people, and things, about Manticore, and other stuff. He's really   
close to Eyes Only."   
"He's probably important enough to keep. Don't get your hopes up, Max.   
Security has intensified like mad," he said at the hopeful look in her eyes. He   
knew that Max would try something stupid if he didn't keep her in check, and he   
couldn't help but feel responsible for her.   
  
AN I have no idea where this is goin'. Input is appreciated. 


End file.
